Durban Cultural Tour

Depart from Durban for the Phoenix Settlement, where one of the major leaders of the twentieth century, Mahatma Gandhi, originally worked out his philosophy of passive resistance against injustice. His followers, both in South Africa and later in the Indian struggle for independence, successfully used his strategy to win freedom from oppression.

Gandhi’s original home was destroyed in an anti-apartheid turbulence of the 1980’s, but now has been re-built and re-dedicated as a monument to peace and justice. Our next stop is the Ohlange Institute which was the first African-run and African-funded educational institution in Southern Africa. The Institute was founded by the Rev Dr John Langalibalele Dube and first opened its doors in 1901.

Dube was an educationalist, editor and also one of the founders of the ANC and its first president. In a symbolic gesture, the country’s first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela, chose to caste his vote here in the historic 1994 elections. Ohlange means “place of reeds” and refers to the name of the area through which Ohlange River flows. Inanda Seminary School, the link between John Dube and the Inanda Seminary is a profound one. It is here that Dube’s grandmother was converted to Christianity by the American missionary Daniel Lindley and also where Dube’s father worked as one of the first ordained pastors of the American Zulu Mission established by Lindley.

Inanda Seminary is one of the best-known schools for girls in Southern Africa, and one of the oldest too, and dates back to 1869. Its first principal was the remarkable missionary, Mary (“Ma”) Edwards. Many of South Africa’s Black women leaders received their education there, including several of today’s women MPs and business figures.

The original buildings, some in the colonial style of the American south, are national monuments.